Body Parts
by Kavi Leighanna
Summary: TV Prompt Challenge - The little things they love most about each other. H/P. Complete 7/7
1. Hands

_**I did this for Harry Potter (James/Lily) but then this one came to my head for the prompt challenge and they're fun little things to write so I thought I'd give it a shot. **_

_**There's 7 in total, and I debated posting them all at once, but I'm just going to post them once a day instead. They break up better that way. **_

_**They're really short, most of them under 300 words. Kind of drabble-y I guess. **_

_**Enjoy!  
**_

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**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Hands**

_Emily_

She loves his hands.

She's seen everything they're capable of. She's seen him tackle an UNSUB, and she's seen him with his son, knows that those same hands that catch killers can wipe away a little boy's tears. She's felt the passion in him, knows that those hands can bend her to his will with a few deft touches. She knows the palms are soft, but the fingertips are calloused from the work he does.

Some nights, she lays awake long after he's drifted off, just to admire the look of his fingers spread out against her stomach. She strokes her hands over the back of them, her own fingers lighter than a feather so as not to disturb his much-needed rest. She's never told him how much she loves his hands.

Someday, she knows, those same hands will be holding their own child, a son or a daughter because they've been through too much together to even think about separating now. And those hands, those same hands she'd seen clenched in a fist as Strauss called them out on their relationship had been the same ones to hold her gently to his chest after it had all gone down. The same ones that had cradled her cheeks as he told her everything was going to be okay.

Even now, as she looks down at the way his hand, his fingers, are woven through hers, she feels nothing but safety and contentment as they stroll down the sandy shores of Virginia Beach, Jack racing ahead of them. He smiles as he catches her gaze and lifts their entwined hands, pressing a kiss to the back of hers. She smiles in response as she squeezes one of those two hands she loves so much.


	2. Skin

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Skin**

_Hotch_

Her skin is wickedly soft.

He hates the days they spend in the office because he has to stay the appropriate distance away at all times. He can't reach out and stroke her bare arm, slide a hand onto her neck or run his thumb over her bare shoulder. He can't slip his hand under her shirt to the satiny skin of her back or cup her cheek in his palm.

He prefers the days they can just relax at home, most especially bedtime when he could strip her down to just that skin and run his hands wherever he wants. He knows her scars, knows exactly where she's ticklish and what spots make her moan his name. He loves feeling that skin wrapped around his body as they drift off, her thigh tucked between his.

The smell of her skin gets him through some of those hotel rooms, the memory fresh in his mind as he drifts off to sleep. It is a mix of lavender and something he can't put his finger on, something uniquely Emily. It's the smell of her skin that clues him into her appearance, long before she actually appears at his side.

He absorbs that feeling of her skin against his as she dozes on his lap having fallen asleep after a busy day with his son. He's too busy watching her to pay attention to the movie they threw in the DVD player, too busy taking that time to stroke his fingers up and down the arm that isn't underneath the flannel blanket they keep on the couch just for this instance.

And her skin is just the outside.


	3. Arms

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Arms**

_Emily_

She can't get enough of his arms.

It's almost the same reason she loves his hands, but there's more to it than that. His arms embody security, safety. It's a place where she can't get hurt. There is nothing in the world better than having his arms wrapped around her when they cuddle on the couch, in their bed, or anywhere for that matter. There's no feeling in the world like waking up wrapped in that embrace. If it wasn't for the fact that they couldn't function as effectively with his arms permanently wrapped around her, she'd never leave his embrace.

But she knows better than that. Instead, it's the feeling of his arms wrapped around her that gets her through the brutal interviews, through the most grotesque of murders. It's the feeling of his arms that wards off the nightmares, reminds her that there's nothing that can hurt her so long as he's around. She needs that feeling, needs him in her life, needs those arms wrapped around her more than anything else. They're a necessary part of her, kind of like her pulse and her heart rate.

His arms are always there when she needs them the most, almost anticipating her mood before she does. Sometimes it takes five minutes, sometimes it takes so much longer than that, but his arms wrapped around her have gotten her through both the best and worst times in her life.

They are her safety.


	4. Eyes

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Eyes**

_Hotch_

He never really considered brown to be a colour on his list of favourites. It's one of those colours that you use to decorate your house, the colour that you stain your furniture or your deck. His bed, for example, is brown, so is most of the wood for his living room. So are Emily's eyes.

He can always tell what she's thinking by the look in her eyes. For a woman with the most epic poker face he's ever seen, she can't seem to get the expression out of those chocolate depths. Or maybe he's just more adept at reading her. He's spent enough time looking into those eyes that there's no mistaking who knows her best.

They can change colour too, nothing drastic like brown to green, but shades. He's noticed, because he spends so much time watching her. By the time he noticed that her eyes changed colour, his marriage with Haley was over and before they got together he was self-conscious about it. She was his subordinate, after all, and if he was being brutally honest with himself, he was a little afraid of her mother.

She'd once asked him what his favourite part of her was, and laughed when he'd given her a philosophical answer. She wanted the physical thing he liked about her. He'd grinned, full with dimples and told her the answer was as easy as his own name.

Those expressive brown eyes.


	5. Heart

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Heart**

_Emily_

Hotch has a big heart.

They use other words to describe him, of course. The office prefers less positive monikers like cold, ruthless, stoic, unfeeling... But Emily knows so much better and she knows the team does too. Their Hotch can come across as all of those things, but they all can from time to time. It's a fallacy of their job description and an unfortunate battle they all fight with each case, each victim. His coping mechanism is to shut down completely, to focus on the technicalities, the profile. His heart is shut away in a box, emotion an unacceptable companion on their trip through the dark places of an UNSUB's mind.

But she knows that when his version of the Superman costume comes off, there's just a man underneath. Her man. Her Hotch. Her Aaron. Gone is the stoicism, the unbridled strength and the coldness in his eyes. Instead, there's warmth, her safe haven, and there is no doubt in her mind that his heart is hers to love, to protect, to cherish. She takes the responsibility very seriously.

People forget that the BAU is filled with people, agents that are just as human as those who work in white collar or missing persons. Hotch is the embodiment of that misconception. Emily feels honoured sometimes that he's let her see so much of that other part of his life, the part that feels and feel deeply. In the comfort and privacy of the four walls of his house, he rails against some of the things they see. He rants about the injustices of the society. But he also shows depths of love that she had never fathomed. Because she too had fallen into the mistake of thinking him unfeeling.

Truth be told, he feels deeply, intensely, and when he doesn't have to be Agent Hotchner, he enjoys showing her. It took time and she wasn't even really prepared for the work that had gone into it, but now, now it comes easily to him. Now, he's as likely to initiate things as she is. If he is uncomfortable or unhappy with how she is sitting beside him, laying beside him, standing beside him, he simply moves her. And it never ceases to make her happy.

It shows how big his heart is, how much he feels, and it's that heart that she fell in love with.


	6. Soul

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Soul**

_Hotch_

She's a battered soul.

He'd known that before starting his relationship with her, but he hadn't been prepared for the things she told him. She's been through a lot in her life, a lot of struggles, a lot of abuse, and not at the hands of her parents. She's been abused by a system of politics that isn't child-friendly, a system that didn't give her the roots to make friends or just be a kid.

He cried with her when she told him about her abortion, cried for her, the chance she missed, and the child she was all but forced to give up. Sure, he knew the decision had been hers, but at fifteen, as much as you want to, he knows you're never quite in the right place to be making decisions as drastic as childbirth. After that conversation, he promised to go with her to check if she's still able to have children. He knows she'll make a fantastic mother. No matter what she says about her past, about her own relationship with her mother, he knows that she's simply got a knack for it. And really, that's the only thing that makes him feel better about the effect her past has had on her present.

But she's not only a battered soul. She's a soul that knows her strengths, knows her weaknesses, and plays up her strengths more. She's a soul that understands the importance of fun and light, and before her, after his divorce, he wasn't sure he'd ever see that light again. But Emily knows better, and she has yet to let him forget it, whether she realizes how much influence she has over his life or not.

Sometimes, he sits and reflects on her battered soul. He thinks about how her childhood was ripped away from her, not only because of what happened in Italy, but because of how often she was shuttled around from country to country. American Ambassador wasn't a job conducive to raising a child. Yet, he knows that she wouldn't be his Emily if she hadn't gone through the things she had. She wouldn't be so affected by cases involving children. She probably wouldn't love Jack the same way. Not to mention her job, a job that wasn't for just the everyday person walking in off the street. The Bureau alone could be tough, but the BAU was a breed unto itself. But she does it all and she does it with compassion, not only for the victims but for her teammates too.

Emily's soul may be battered, abused, but it was strong and it was what made her the woman he adored with all of his heart, and all of his own battered soul.


	7. Everything

**BODY PARTS**

PROMPT: Human Touch (Judging Amy)

**Everything**

_Both_

She's his everything.

She's his light, his strength, his hope and his dreams all wrapped up in a trim, fit body. She's the tough as nails Agent Prentiss, and she's the softer Emily. They're the same person, with the same well-spring of strength, and she holds his life and his heart in the palm of her hand. He trusts her with his heart, with his soul, with his body and with his sanity. He trusts her with everything he is and everything he will be.

He's everything to her.

He's what makes their job easier, the one that knows exactly what to do to calm her down, to remind her that what they do is not only necessary, but essential. He is what helps her remember there are good things in her life that she is grateful for. His hands, his arms his soul… they're all part of the man she's fallen head-over-heels for, the Bureau be damned.

Which is what brings tears to her eyes as she wraps her arms tighter around his neck. This is their first extended vacation together outside of the United States, away from the death that is the norm of the BAU. They're dancing on the sand, part of one of the resort's evening activities, she in a sundress, he in shorts and a polo, just enjoying their time together.

They both know that the Bureau can – and probably will – try to separate them. They know that they're fighting a losing battle to keep each other and the job, but neither of them are all that concerned. They've both discovered that though the BAU is everything to them, it's not as "everything" as moment like these. Moments where...

... He has one of those strong hands wrapped around her smaller, slighter one.

... Her skin in beneath the fingers of both hands, soft, silken and beautiful.

... His arm wrapped around her back, the strong and steady play of muscles making her feel safe, secure and loved.

... Her eyes, warm and expressive, locked on his even though they both know it would be more comfortable for her to rest her head on his shoulder.

... His heart reflected back at her in those eyes, in the contentment in his face, in the relaxed feeling of all of his muscles.

... Her soul warming him from the outside in, reminding him that this, here, now, with her, is the light that chases away the demons they face.

This is their everything.

Undoubtedly.

Unbreakably.

Everything.


End file.
